The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-09-22
THAT INTERSTATE LAW.
II, MADE NO P3OvISION FOR
FREIGHT ON wONEN'S BUSTL ES.

Back TO inc lnCGState commerce
Commission. r
From the Neso Yqs Eveai,,g sar.
The pool commissioners and traffic man.
ayers of the trunk Inns, the central traffic
lines, and the transcoltinental lines are in
a middle. And it is al about little simple
matter which any woman could answer in
half moment, namely the difference be-
tween hoopskirt and bustle
The story, as told by railroad official, is
as follows:
Messrs. Stiefel, Sachs & Co. of Is Walker
street, in this city, are EXTENSIVE dry goods
shippers. They do big tnnscontinental
business, mainly with their San Francisco
house, Sachs Bros. &y Co. lfnong the arti-
Giles which they ship are ladies' hustles. Not
week goes by but large cees of these inn
portant articles in the internal economy of
lady's attire are shipped rom New York
to San Francisco by this hdlse.
Last spring the traffic managers and pool
commissioners of the line between the At
lantic and the Pacific casts made out
new rate sheet to take effect on May 8.
The rate sheet covers many pages of large
paper, and comprises aticles of every pos
sible description. Undd' the head of "dry
goods" is to be found the word "bustles."
The rate affixed to this is S. per hundred
pounds. Under the lead of 'wire goods"
is to be found the wod ''hoopskirts.n The
rate affixed to this is $1.50 per hundred
pounds.
This was done witt all the arrogance of
ignorance. ProbablT every man in the
meeting thought te knew Just what a
hustle was and what hoopskirt was If
the traffic manages had been little less
conceited about thdr wisdom, if some one
of them had only Bked his wife, in an off
hand way, for Cetinition of these terms,
days and weeks of labor would have been
saved.
But no one did 10, and the rate sheets
were printed and distributed all over the
country to railroadmen and to shippers of
all kinds. The shipping house of Stiefel,
Sachs 81 Co., and dbubtless many others be-
side, were shrewd enough to take advantage
of the ignorance ofthe rate makers. They
shipped their many cases of bustleS with the
mark wire goods on the boxes, paid the
rate of 81 SO per hundred, and they flour
lshed and were happy, and their race multi
piled on the face Of the earth.
It is the custom of the agent of the lines
in the Transcontinental Association at San
Francisco to open the boxes and see
whether the mark on the outside really
corresponds with the articles inside the
box. tr
The agent of the lines, who was acting in
this capacity last July, happened to be an
offcious young man of the kind who think
they know all about it, He opened a
case from Stiefel, Sachs & Co., marked
wire goods"
He found in it collection Of articles, the
nature of which was, he thought. known to
him. He was married man, and he felt
sure the articles contained in the case were
bustles. The rate on bustles was, he ascer-
tanned, twice as large as the rate on hoop
skirts. On the strength of this he reported
back TO the Pennsylvania agent of the Star
Union line that higher charge should have
been made on that consignment of goods.
The Pennsylvania agent looked into the
matter. He was a bachelor and didn't
know any more about bustles than he did
about Kamschatka. But he thought the
Californian must know, and so he sent back
word that he conceded in the opinion and
would see that the matter was rectified
Then he referred the subject to the agent of
the California Fast Freight line. This gen.
tleman did not agree with the other author
tiles who had expressed their opinions on
the matter. He said the articles were made
of wire, hence they were wire goods.
AS hoopskirts were the only things
named under the head of wire goods which
could be anything like the articles in the
box in nature, he thought that the shipper
should be given tn, benefit of the doubt.
not altogether clear, and he asked that the
subject be referred to Commissioner Albert
Fink.
Commissioner Fink made an exhaustive
examination into the case 1t seems that
the articles in question were about 21& feet
long They had an outward an inward and
a second outward curve to them. They
were wire frame with a cloth covering. Mr..
Finks idea of busUle was a wire article
i Il.
of a sphere. A hoopskirt, on the other
hand, he took to be a wire article in the
shape of a dinner bell without the handle.
be didn't know anything about these COM
promise things with their in curves and out
curves. 1t must be something which had
recently come in like in curves and out curves
IN the game of base ball. Such things
weren't heard of when he was boy. They
might be hoopskirts and they might be bus
ties. On the whole he was inclined to
agree with the Star Union man that they
We're bustles, because he didn't think they
could be hoopskirts.
Then the matter was taken before the
Broadway Classification Committee. This
committee consists of representatives of all
the trunk lines between New York and
Chicago. The thing had now been going on
for about six weeks, and there was a stack
of papers about the case foot high. All the
reports and opinions of the railroad men and
all the evidence which could be obtained, by
deposition or otherwise, were carefully kept
for future reference.
The Broadway Classification Committee,
among whom is Commissioner S. F. Pier
son, listened patiently to the evidence, but
iiatly refused to give any opinion. They
considered that it was a subject for wiser
heads than theirs to decide. They referred
the matter to the committee of the Central
Traffic Association. This association is com
posed of the representatives of the lines be-
tween Chicago and the Missouri river and
is headed by Commissioner G. r. Blanchard.
The Central Traffic Committee listened
eagerly to the evidence, and asked for more.
They all had decided opinions in the matter
and tried to express them all at once
At last, after a stormy meeting, in which
the committee resolved itself into two fac
tons and much bad blood was shown, they
gave it up and sorrowfully returned the
answer that they could not agree upon YER
dict. The committee is composed of four
men. Two of them insisted that hustle
was 'little sawed off thing shaped like
quarter of an orange" and that these big
long things must he hoop-skirts,
The other faction as vehemently protested
that hoopsxirt was big thing that "came
all the way around"
Then the matter went to the committee of
the TIanscontinental lines between the
Omaha and the Pacific coast, OF which l..
u. Cannon is a member.